Francis Drake. Pirate Admiral

17.12.2023

The famous English pirate Francis Drake began to participate in pirate adventures at the age of 26, in 1567. Even in his youth he was one of the members of the Hawkins expedition. Drake set off from Plymouth on May 24, 1572 on his next voyage. He decided to carry it out on his own ship "Sevan". Francis's younger brother, John, was given control of another ship, the Pasha. Drake, during this campaign and other voyages, carried out pirate raids in the Caribbean Sea off the island of Pinos (today it is Juventud Island) and off the coast of Cuba.

Francis returned after numerous “exploits” to England on November 3, 1580. Queen Elizabeth greeted him with great honors. She even gave the pirate a sword, on which there was an inscription that if Drake was hit, it meant that the entire kingdom had been hit. Elizabeth granted Francis the title of Sir. He became an admiral of the British fleet and a member of parliament. Strange, isn't it? However, Francis Drake deservedly received all this. In the fall of 1580, he returned not just from a pirate campaign. Francis traveled around the world. After reading this article, you will find out what Francis Drake discovered and what the results of his expedition were. We will also go into detail about how this famous journey took place.

It is interesting that no one instructed him to sail around the world, and the pirate himself did not plan it. In those days, many geographical discoveries were made by accident, as a result of unforeseen circumstances.

Preparing for swimming

Francis Drake completed preparations for the pirate voyage in the fall of 1577. He planned to go to the Pacific (west) coast of South America. Preparations were carried out with the help of influential patrons, among whom was Queen Elizabeth herself. The idea of the campaign was simple: the Spaniards did not expect an attack on the west coast of South America, either from sea or from land. Consequently, it is possible to rob coastal settlements and ships with almost impunity.

Out to sea, stop in San Julian

Francis Drake's ships (4 in total) left Plymouth at the end of 1577. Already in April of the following year, the pirates reached the mouth of the river. La Plati. After a short stop, they headed south. The pirates followed the coast of Patagonia. This is the name of the part of modern Argentina, stretching from the Strait of Magellan to the river bed. Rio Negro. In San Julian Bay, located in the south of Patagonia, Francis's flotilla decided to make a stop. By the way, it is known that it was in this bay that Magellan wintered in June - October 1520.

Difficulties the team had to face

After this stop, the flotilla moved on, however, already consisting of three ships. The fact is that one ship became faulty and was burned on Drake's orders. Soon the travelers reached the Strait of Magellan. Its winding and complex fairway was difficult to overcome in 20 days. The sailors suffered from the cold. It was July, which is the coldest month in the Southern Hemisphere. Finally, the team entered the Pacific Ocean and continued north to the tropics. Suddenly, the pirates were overtaken by a strong storm. One ship out of three was missing. Most likely, he crashed and sank somewhere in the ocean. Another ship has re-entered the Strait of Magellan. The pirates who sailed on this ship managed to return to England. There is only one ship left. This was Francis Drake's flagship, the Golden Hind.

How Drake made a discovery

After the storm, the ship ended up far to the south. Francis Drake noticed that Tierra del Fuego ended here. To the south there is a vast ocean. This is how, by chance, an important geographical discovery was made. It became clear that Tierra del Fuego is an island. Previously it was believed that this was part of the Unknown Land. What Francis Drake discovered was very significant. Later, the strait between Antarctica and South America deservedly became known as

Attacks on Spanish ships, rich booty

The ocean has finally calmed down and the weather has improved. Noticing this, Francis Drake decided to continue the expedition he had begun. The pirate sent his only ship north. Feeling the proximity of the subtropics, the team perked up. The sailors began to forget the hardships of the journey that they experienced in the Tierra del Fuego region after the first Spanish ships appeared. As a result of the attacks on them, the holds of the Golden Hind gradually began to be filled with jewelry and gold.

Drake did not take the lives of those he robbed unless absolutely necessary. Because of this, his pirate operations proceeded with virtually no casualties among his crew. Drake established almost friendly relations with the Chilean Indians. The availability of wine, food and women from local tribes, rich booty became a reward for the hardships and dangers experienced before. Drake captured a Spanish galleon that was transporting jewelry and gold from the American colonies to the Spanish treasury. Not every pirate could boast of such luck. The extracted wealth was so great that there was nowhere to load it. It was necessary to return home, but how?

Return trip

Of course, Francis did not know, and could not have known, about the plans of the Spaniards. However, being an experienced captain, he was able to foresee that the Spanish ships, intending to destroy him, would go through the Strait of Magellan towards him. And so it happened. It was necessary to save people, themselves and the looted jewelry. And what did Francis Drake do? He decided to head north, moving along the west coast of America. The length of this path is amazing. Drake sailed from Tierra del Fuego (of course, stopping several times on the shore) along the coasts of Peru and Chile, past the lands of Mexico and Central America, along the west coast of the modern United States. He reached 48 degrees north latitude, that is, he reached the US border with what is now Canada. In total, the length of this path is at least 20 thousand km, since the ship did not move strictly along the meridian. The ship circled the shores of both Americas.

The shore deviated further and further to the west. Fleeing from persecution, Francis was probably ready to reach the Atlantic Ocean, circumnavigating North America. However, this was impossible to do, since the pirate did not know whether such a way existed. There was only one way out - to turn west, finding ourselves in the vastness of the Pacific Ocean. Heading southwest, Drake arrived 3 months later. After another 1.5-2 months, his ship was already moving between the islands of the Moluccas archipelago. Drake in this area could well have encountered Portuguese or Spanish warships. However, he was lucky to avoid these meetings.

The final stage of the journey

The next stage of the famous pirate’s voyage can also be called unique in its kind. Drake's ship sailed across the Indian Ocean to the Cape of Good Hope. The travelers, rounding this cape, moved north. They decided to sail along the western coast of Africa and the Iberian Peninsula. After some time, the pirates reached the Bay of Biscay. They arrived in Plymouth in early November 1580. Thus, the trip lasting 3 years turned out to be around the world.

Merits of Francis Drake

Pirate Francis Drake is the second captain after F. Magellan, who managed to circumnavigate the world. However, he was much more fortunate than his predecessor. After all, Magellan did not reach Portugal. He died in a skirmish with the aborigines that occurred in the Philippine Islands. 1.5 years after his death, the only surviving ship was brought to Lisbon by crew members who managed to survive.

Francis Drake's achievements consisted not only in the fact that he managed to save his life during a dangerous and long voyage. He brought back most of the sailors of the ship "Golden Hind". In addition, Francis Drake's galleon, under the personal command of the captain, was brought to the port. In addition, the ship carried a large cargo of gold and various jewelry.

Immediately after this voyage (1577-1580), Francis Drake, from a simple pirate, as he had been several years earlier, turned into a respected admiral of the British fleet. The Queen of England herself showed him every honor. Francis Drake's discoveries were appreciated.

After this, Francis went to sea many times. He fought with Spanish ships. Francis in 1588 participated in repelling the attack of the Spanish Invincible Armada. The battle ended in victory for the British. The famous pirate died in 1596, having set off on another voyage a year earlier. In the Caribbean, he died of dysentery.

Drake Passage

And today, the wide strait connecting the South Shetland Islands and Tierra del Fuego is named after this pirate. An ignorant person may think that this is some kind of misunderstanding or historical curiosity. But now that we know all the circumstances of this case, we can say with confidence that there is no mistake. That's right, because Drake did a lot for his homeland. But not only for her. What Francis Drake did for geography is no less, and perhaps more important.

Francis Drake was born in 1540 in the town of Tavistock, Devonshire, in the family of a poor village priest, Edmund Drake. Some sources claim that in his youth his father was a sailor. Francis's grandfather was a farmer who owned 180 acres of land. Francis's mother was from the Milway family, but I could not find her name. In total, there were twelve children in the Drake family, Francis was the eldest.

Francis left his parents' home early (presumably in 1550), joining a small merchant ship as a cabin boy, where he quickly mastered the art of navigation. Hardworking, persistent and calculating, he attracted the attention of the old captain, who had no family and who loved Francis as his own son and bequeathed his ship to Francis. As a merchant captain, Drake undertook several long voyages to the Bay of Biscay and Guinea, where he profitably engaged in the slave trade, supplying blacks to Haiti.

In 1567, Drake commanded a ship in the squadron of the then-famous John Hawkins, who plundered the coast of Mexico with the blessing of Queen Elizabeth I. The British were out of luck. When, after a terrible storm, they defended themselves in San Juan, they were attacked by a Spanish squadron. Only one ship out of six escaped the trap and, after a difficult voyage, reached its homeland. It was Drake's ship...

In 1569 he married a girl named Mary Newman, about whom I have been unable to find out anything. It is only known that the marriage turned out to be childless. Mary died twelve years later.

"Pelican" - the flagship of Francis Drake

Soon after this, Drake made two exploratory voyages across the ocean, and in 1572 he organized an independent expedition and made a very successful raid on the Isthmus of Panama.

Soon, among the far from good-natured pirates and slave traders, young Drake began to stand out as the most cruel and the luckiest. According to contemporaries, “he was a powerful and irritable man with a furious character,” greedy, vindictive and extremely superstitious. At the same time, many historians claim that he undertook risky voyages not only for the sake of gold and honors, but that he was attracted by the very opportunity to go where no Englishman had ever been. In any case, geographers and sailors of the era of the Great Geographical Discoveries owe it to this man for many important clarifications of the world map.

After Drake distinguished himself in suppressing the Irish rebellion, he was presented to Queen Elizabeth and outlined his plan to raid and devastate the western shores of South America. Along with the rank of rear admiral, Drake received five ships with a crew of one hundred and sixty selected sailors. The Queen set one condition: that the names of all those noble gentlemen who, like her, gave money to equip the expedition, remain secret.

Drake managed to hide the expedition's true goals from Spanish spies by spreading the rumor that he was heading to Alexandria. As a result of this misinformation, the Spanish ambassador in London, Don Bernandino Mendoza, did not take measures to block the pirate's path to the Western Hemisphere.

On December 13, 1577, the flotilla - the flagship Pelican (Pelican) with a displacement of 100 tons, Elizabeth (80 tons), Sea Gold (30 tons), Swan (50 tons) and the galley Christopher - left Plymouth .

During the time of Queen Elizabeth I, there were no official rules for measuring ships, and therefore the dimensions of Drake's ship do not match in different sources. By comparing the information, R. Hockel provides the following data: length between stems - 20.2 meters, maximum width - 5.6 meters, hold depth - 3.03 meters, side height: amidships - 4.8 meters, aft - 9.22 meters, in the bow - 6.47 meters; draft - 2.2 meters, mainmast height 19.95 meters. Armament - 18 guns, of which seven guns on each side and two on the forecastle and stern. In terms of the shape of the hull, the Pelican was a transitional type from a carrack to a galleon and was well suited for long sea voyages.

Drake's cabin was decorated and furnished with great luxury. The utensils he used were made of pure silver. While eating, musicians delighted his ears with their playing, and a page stood behind Drake's chair. The Queen sent him gifts of incense, sweets, an embroidered sea cap and a green silk scarf with the words embroidered in gold: “May God always protect and guide you.”

Drake's Assault on Cartagena (vintage engraving)

In the second half of January, the ships reached Mogadar, a port city in Morocco. Having taken hostages, the pirates exchanged them for a caravan of all kinds of goods. Then came a rush across the Atlantic Ocean. Having plundered the Spanish harbors at the mouth of La Plata along the way, the flotilla anchored in San Julian Bay on June 3, 1578, where Magellan dealt with the rebels. Some kind of fate weighed on this harbor, for Drake also had to suppress the outbreak of a mutiny, as a result of which Captain Doughty was executed. By the way, at the same time “Pelican” was renamed “Golden Hind”.

Reconstruction of the supposed appearance of the "Golden Hind"

On August 2, having abandoned two vessels that had become completely unusable, the flotilla ("Golden Hind", "Elizabeth" and "Sea Gold") entered the Strait of Magellan and passed it in 20 days. After leaving the strait, the ships were caught in a fierce storm, which scattered them in different directions. "Sea Gold" was lost, "Elizabeth" was thrown back to the Strait of Magellan and, having passed it, he returned to England, and "Golden Hind", on which Drake was, was carried far to the south. At the same time, Drake made the involuntary discovery that Tierra del Fuego was not a protrusion of the Southern continent, as was believed at that time, but an archipelago, beyond which the open sea stretches. In honor of the discoverer, the strait between Tierra del Fuego and Antarctica was named after Drake.

As soon as the storm passed, Drake headed north and entered Valparaiso Harbor on December 5th. Having captured a ship in the harbor loaded with wines and gold bars worth 37 thousand ducats, the pirates landed on shore and plundered the city, taking a cargo of gold sand worth 25 thousand pesos.

In addition, they found secret Spanish maps on the ship, and now Drake was not moving forward blindly. It must be said that before Drake’s pirate raid, the Spaniards felt completely safe on the west coast of America - after all, not a single English ship passed through the Strait of Magellan, and therefore the Spanish ships in this area had no guards, and the cities were not prepared to repel the pirates. Walking along the coast of America, Drake captured and plundered many Spanish cities and settlements, including Callao, Santo, Trujillo, and Manta. In Panamanian waters, he overtook the ship "Carafuego", on which a cargo of fabulous value was taken - gold and silver bars and coins worth 363 thousand pesos (about 1600 kg of gold). In the Mexican harbor of Acapulco, Drake captured a galleon loaded with spices and Chinese silk.

Then Drake, having deceived all the hopes of his enemies, did not turn back to the south, but crossed the Pacific Ocean and reached the Mariana Islands. Having repaired the ship in the Celebes area, he set course for the Cape of Good Hope and on September 26, 1580, dropped anchor in Plymouth, completing his second circumnavigation of the world after Magellan.

It was the most profitable voyage ever undertaken, with a return of 4,700%, about £500,000! To imagine the enormity of this sum, it is enough to cite two figures for comparison: the military operations to defeat the Spanish “Invincible Armada” in 1588 cost England “only” 160 thousand pounds, and the annual income of the English treasury at that time was 300 thousand pounds. Queen Elizabeth visited Drake's ship and knighted him right on deck, which was a great reward - there were only 300 people in England who had this title!

Knighting of Francis Drake

The Spanish King Philip II demanded punishment for the pirate Drake, reparations and an apology. Elizabeth's royal council limited itself to a vague answer that the Spanish king had no moral right "to prevent the English from visiting the Indies, and therefore the latter can travel there, running the risk of being captured there, but if they return without harm to themselves, His Majesty cannot ask Her Majesty to punish them..."

In 1585 Drake remarried. This time it was a girl from a rather rich and noble family - Elizabeth Sydenham. The couple moved to the Buckland Abbey estate, which Drake had recently purchased. Today there is a large monument there in honor of Drake. But, as in his first marriage, Drake had no children.

In 1585-1586, Sir Francis Drake again commanded an armed English fleet directed against the Spanish colonies of the West Indies, and, just like the last time, returned with rich booty. For the first time, Drake commanded such a large formation: he had 21 ships with 2,300 soldiers and sailors under his command.

It was thanks to Drake's energetic actions that the Invincible Armada's departure to sea was delayed for a year, which allowed England to better prepare for military action. Not bad for one person! And it happened like this: on April 19, 1587, Drake, commanding a squadron of 13 small ships, entered the harbor of Cadiz, where the Armada ships were preparing to sail. Of the 60 ships in the roadstead, he destroyed 30, and captured some of the remaining ones and took them with him, including a huge galleon with a displacement of 1,200 tons.

In 1588, Sir Francis had a heavy hand in the complete defeat of the Invincible Armada. Unfortunately, this was the zenith of his fame. An expedition to Lisbon in 1589 ended in failure and cost him the favor and favor of the queen. He was unable to take the city, and out of 16 thousand people only 6 thousand remained alive. In addition, the royal treasury suffered losses, and the queen had a very bad attitude towards such issues. It seems that Drake's happiness has left him, and the next expedition to the shores of America for new treasures has already cost him his life.

Sir Francis Drake

Everything on this last voyage was unsuccessful: at the landing sites it turned out that the Spaniards had been warned and were ready to fight back, there was no treasure, and the British suffered constant losses of people not only in battles, but also from disease. The admiral also fell ill with tropical fever. Feeling the approach of death, Drake got out of bed, got dressed with great difficulty, and asked his servant to help him put on armor in order to die like a warrior. At dawn on January 28, 1596, he was gone. A few hours later the squadron approached Nombre de Dios. The new commander, Thomas Baskerville, ordered Sir Francis Drake's body to be placed in a lead coffin and lowered into the sea with military honors.

Since Sir Francis Drake had no children to inherit his title, it was given to his nephew, also named Francis. At the time it seemed like a curiosity of fate, but later it became the cause of many incidents and misunderstandings.

Francis Drake (circa 1545 - January 28, 1595) - English navigator, pirate, military leader, who circumnavigated the world for the first time since F. Magellan (1577-1580). He sailed to the shores of Africa and America, engaging in the slave trade and pirate raids on Spanish ships and possessions. In December 1577, Drake with a squadron of 5 ships left Plymouth, crossed the Atlantic Ocean and in April 1578 reached the shores of South America (the mouth of La Plata). In August 1578, Drake entered the Pacific Ocean through the Strait of Magellan, having only 1 ship, which was carried south by a storm to Cape Horn. This is how the southernmost point of America was discovered. This discovery shook the legend about the existence of the mythical Southern Continent, indicated on maps south of 40 0 - 45 0 S. w. Drake then sailed along the western coast of America, plundering Spanish ships and cities along the way. Trying to get away from the Spanish ships, Drake went north in search of a passage from the north from the Pacific to the Atlantic and reached 48 0 s. w. Descending south, he discovered San Francisco Bay, from where he turned west, heading for the Moluccas. In June 1580 he rounded the Cape of Good Hope and in September 1580 returned to Plymouth.

Drake took an active part in the defeat of the Spanish "Invincible Armada" (1588). Drake's voyages and raids, fully supported by Queen Elizabeth of England, dealt a strong blow to the Spanish monopoly on the Pacific Ocean.

The Drake Passage between Tierra del Fuego and Antarctica is named after Drake.

Drake Francis, English navigator, was born near Tavistock (Devonshire) around 1545, died near Puerto Bello (Panama) on January 28, 1596. The first English circumnavigator. The son of a sailor, he went to sea early and in 1565-1566. went to the West Indies for the first time. In 1567-1569. he participated as a captain in John Hawkins' voyages to Guinea, from where he delivered black slaves to the West Indies. Hawkins and Drake escaped with only heavy losses from one attack by the Spanish fleet off Veracruz. In 1570-1572. Drake undertook three pirate voyages to the West Indies; after this he was commissioned by Queen Elizabeth to interfere with Spanish trade in the Pacific. At the end of 1577, he left Plymouth with five ships and sailed through the Strait of Magellan from August 20 to September 6, 1578. In the Pacific Ocean, due to bad weather, his ship was separated from other ships. However, he continued sailing on one ship and plundered the harbors of the western American coast. From California it moved north to about 48° N. sh., but due to the prevailing cold weather there, he had to abandon the plan to return to England, rounding America from the north. At the same time, he was the first European to reach the river. Columbia, and maybe as far as the southern tip of Vancouver Island. Since it was impossible to circumnavigate South America a second time due to the retaliatory measures taken by the Spaniards, he crossed the Pacific Ocean and on November 4, 1579, through the Mariana Islands, reached one of the Moluccas - Ternate. From there he, having passed Java and rounded the Cape of Good Hope, returned to his native Plymouth on November 5, 1580. With this, Drake completed his second trip around the world after Magellan. However, except for part of the western North American coast, he did not discover anything new. In 1585-1586 Drake again commanded an armed English fleet directed against the Spanish colonies in the West Indies, and returned, as from his trip around the world, with rich booty. In 1587, Drake burned a detachment of the Spanish Armada in the harbor of Cadiz and in 1588, already with the rank of vice admiral under the leadership of Lord Howard, participated in its destruction in the English Channel. His later ventures, one against Lisbon in 1589, as well as two subsequent West Indian ones in 1594 and 1595, were unsuccessful. In the second of them, in 1596, he died of dysentery.

Bibliography

Biographical dictionary of figures in natural science and technology. T. 1. – Moscow: State. scientific publishing house "Big Soviet Encyclopedia", 1958. - 548 p.
300 travelers and explorers. Biographical Dictionary. – Moscow: Mysl, 1966. – 271 p.

Francis Drake - Corsair of Her Majesty Elizabeth of England

Francis Drake (Francis Drake) Years of life: ~1540 - 28.1.1596

Francis Drake - corsair, navigator, vice-admiral of the English fleet. The second after Magellan and the first among the English to circumnavigate the world in 1577-1580. A talented naval commander and organizer. He was one of the main figures in the defeat of the Invincible Spanish Armada by the English fleet. For his services, he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth I and became known as Sir Francis Drake.

The name Francis Drake is associated primarily with the word corsair. Many books have been written and films made about his exploits and adventures. Meanwhile, the scale of this historical figure is much higher than the image of an ordinary sea robber.

During the era of colonial conquests, almost all settlers and colonialists were bandits, robbers and slave traders. Francis Drake was no exception. He was just luckier and bigger than others.

The beginning of the biography of F. Drake

", BGCOLOR, "#ffffff", FONTCOLOR, "#333333", BORDERCOLOR, "Silver", WIDTH, "100%", FADEIN, 100, FADEOUT, 100)" face="Georgia">Francis Drake was from the middle class; his parents owned a farmstead. The father's name was Edmund and he had more than a dozen children, Francis was the eldest child. Already at the age of 12, Francis became acquainted with the sea. He is a cabin boy on a merchant ship of his distant relative. The boy managed to prove himself and liked the owner of the ship so much that he left Drake this ship as an inheritance. Thus, Drake, at the age of eighteen, becomes the owner and captain of his own ship. Fate itself connected him with the sea.

Why Drake decided to become a corsair

At the age of 27, Drake made his first long ocean voyage to African Guinea, then to the West Indies (as the lands discovered by Columbus were then called). He was the captain of one of the ships in the flotilla of his relative John Hawkins, and they were engaged in the slave trade. When the ships with black goods were already off the coast of Mexico, they were attacked by Spanish warships and sank almost all of them. Only Hawkins and Drake managed to escape. This was in 1567. Legend has it that the British demanded compensation from the Spanish (how?). They, of course, refused. Then Drake publicly declared that he himself would take from the Spanish crown whatever he saw fit. And then it began.

In 1572, when Drake was 32 years old, he organized the first conquest expedition to the shores of the New World, and began to plunder Spanish ships and settlements. The main success of this campaign was the capture of the Spanish “Silver Caravan” with thirty tons of silver. The chronicles claim that Drake returned to England in wealth and fame.

It is appropriate to recall here that Drake was not a pirate, he was a corsair (). That is, he had a state patent for robbing enemy ships, was “under the roof” of the English crown and, accordingly, gave a significant part of the loot to the state treasury.

After Francis Drake established himself not only as an outstanding sea wolf, but also as a patriot, he was favored in every possible way by Queen Elizabeth I, whom he served faithfully all his life, proving his devotion with concrete deeds for the benefit of England.

", BGCOLOR, "#ffffff", FONTCOLOR, "#333333", BORDERCOLOR, "Silver", WIDTH, "100%", FADEIN, 100, FADEOUT, 100)"> Under Elizabeth I (reigned 1559-1603), England embarked on the path of war to redistribute the world and seize new lands. This was the beginning of the formation of the British colonial empire and everything that would later make England the “mistress of the seas.”

The Queen commissions Drake to lead an important reconnaissance and conquest expedition to the New World. The official purpose of the expedition was research. In fact, Drake was instructed to conduct reconnaissance of the entire American Pacific coast, strike at Spanish settlements, loot as much valuables as possible and stake out new lands for the English crown, if any were discovered.

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Drake coped with the task brilliantly. An expedition of six ships started on November 15, 1577 from the English shores, descended to the south of the American continent, passed, and entered the Pacific Ocean. Here she was overtaken by a terrible storm, which drove the ships south of the islands of Tierra del Fuego.

And then Drake made the discovery that there was a waterway between South America and (yet undiscovered) Antarctica. This strait later received his name. That is what it is called to this day – Drake Passage.

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During this storm, all the ships of the squadron were missing, leaving only the flagship Pelican. After a miraculous rescue, the captain decided to rename it the “Golden Hind.” This is perhaps the only case in history of a ship being renamed during a voyage.

"Golden Hind" completes Drake's circumnavigation of the world

Luck accompanied Drake on this campaign as well. He rose north along the western coast of South America, attacking all Spanish ports, plundering everything and everyone along the way. How he managed it with one ship, God knows.

", BGCOLOR, "#ffffff", FONTCOLOR, "#333333", BORDERCOLOR, "Silver", WIDTH, "100%", FADEIN, 100, FADEOUT, 100)"> Drake on the “Golden Hind” rose significantly north of the Spanish colonies, to the shores of modern California and Canada. Documentary evidence of his stay has not been preserved, but researchers believe that he reached the place where Vancouver is now located. The Pacific coast of what is now the USA and Canada was then completely “wild”, unexplored and not captured by anyone. Drake, as expected, staked out new lands for the English crown.

Drake crosses the Pacific Ocean

After resting, repairing and replenishing supplies, the expedition went west and reached the Moluccas (the famous Spice Islands). From there, Drake's ship headed home, circled, and on September 26, 1580 returned to the English shores.

The spoils of Francis Drake's circumnavigation of the world

According to British scientific researchers, Drake brought gold, silver, spices and all kinds of stolen goods worth six hundred thousand pounds sterling in the holds of the Golden Hind! They (British scientists) claim that this amount was twice the then annual budget of the kingdom!

Drake was greeted as a national hero. Queen Elizabeth knighted him. From that moment on, he received the right to be called sir Francis Drake.

In addition to gold and various junk, Drake brought potato tubers from America, which took root well on European soil and, one might say, radically changed the diet of Europeans. For which the British and residents of other countries are very grateful to Drake, and not to Columbus, as is commonly believed in our country.

Drake continued his robber work for the benefit of his native fatherland. He attacked not only Spain's colonial possessions, but also its European ports, in particular Cadiz. The same Cadiz from which it started.

With his skillful and decisive actions, Drake caused significant damage to Spanish control of the seas. He played a key role in the defeat of the famous Spanish "Invincible Armada" in 1588. This event, we repeat, became the starting point in the emergence of England as a great maritime power.

", BGCOLOR, "#ffffff", FONTCOLOR, "#333333", BORDERCOLOR, "Silver", WIDTH, "100%", FADEIN, 100, FADEOUT, 100)"> Fate was favorable to Francis Drake all his life. And it only spoiled the picture a little at the very end - Drake did not die in battle, as befits a knight, but died of dysentery during his last predatory campaign in the West Indies in 1596. But our hero is buried at sea, as befits a real sea wolf.

And further. God did not give Drake children, and his entire fortune passed to his nephew. But the name of a most interesting and extraordinary man, a brave sea robber and a great patriot of his homeland, for which he worked all his life, remained in history.

Travelers of the Age of Great Geographical Discovery

Russian travelers and pioneers

(c. 1540-1596)

Francis Drake- the son of an English sailor from Croundal, Devonshire. He received a good education and devoted himself to trade. During a voyage with goods to Guinea, he was attacked by Spanish ships. Drake lost all his goods and was captured. After returning to England, he vowed revenge on the Spaniards.

In 1567, Francis Drake proposed to Queen Elizabeth that he organize an expedition to recapture Mexico from Spain and thus begin a colonial empire. The Queen agreed, and soon a squadron of six ships under the command of Drake left Plymouth for America. Unfortunately, off the Mexican coast near Veracruz, the squadron encountered overwhelming Spanish forces, and the battle with them ended in Drake's defeat.

Francis Drake returned to his homeland and began to think about further plans for the struggle.

After trial voyages in 1570 and 1571, Drake again organized an expedition against Spanish possessions in America. He attacked trading ports, captured enemy warships and ships with goods, burned a huge store with goods in Veracruz, and destroyed Spanish settlements. He did all this on his own responsibility: there was no state of war between England and Spain.

On August 9, 1573, Drake returned to Plymouth. He spent most of the rich trophies on arming and equipping three frigates, which he commanded while in the service of Lord Essex.

On December 18, 1577, Drake set out on a new campaign. Under his command were 5 superbly equipped ships, whose crews consisted of experienced sailors. The purpose of the expedition was the exploration and conquest of South America by England. Drake crossed the Atlantic Ocean, went around Tierra del Fuego from the south and discovered Cape Horn along the way. From here he headed north along the coasts of Chile and Peru, capturing Spanish ships or requisitioning the goods they carried along the way. The sea routes along the coasts of Chile and Peru were not well known to sailors, and Drake hoped that he would be able to find some new strait leading to the Atlantic Ocean. So he reached northern California, which he declared the possession of the queen, giving the peninsula the name New Albion. Of course, he was unable to find a passage to the Atlantic Ocean, so he headed west to the wide waters of the Pacific Ocean. Constantly pursued by Spanish ships, Drake reached the island of Ternate from the Moluccas archipelago on November 4, 1579, from where he headed to the island of Java. These were already Portuguese colonies, so the danger of attack was somewhat less. At the head of his squadron, Drake headed around the Cape of Good Hope and finally reached the shores of England on September 26, 1580.

During Drake's absence, the Spanish ambassador in London sent notes one after another complaining about his “pirate attacks.” Ignoring the complaints of the Spaniards, Queen Elizabeth herself went to Deptford on the banks of the Thames (now one of the urban areas of London) on April 4, 1581. Drake became Mayor of Plymouth in 1582. He was elected Member of Parliament in 1584. War with Spain broke out in 1585. Drake, appointed commander of a squadron of 20 ships, attacked to the city of Santiago on the Cape Verde Islands, captured it and plundered it. From there he sailed to the Caribbean Sea. Captured Santo Domingo, Cartago (in present-day Colombia), destroyed the Spanish forts on Florida and returned on July 28, 1586 with rich spoils to Plymouth. The following year He attacked the enemy directly in Spain.At the head of a squadron of 30 ships, he reached Cadiz and burned 22 ships anchored there in the port.

Standing at the heights of colonial and military power, Spain decided to put an end to the small island that dared to resist its power. King Philip II, a narrow-minded sadist, sent a powerful fleet, called the “Invincible Armada,” in 1588 with the task of punishing England. This force was opposed by a small fleet under the command of Admiral Howard Essingame and his deputy, Vice Admiral Francis Drake. In the battle near Plymouth, the British completely defeated the Invincible Armada, sinking half of the ships - the rest were dispersed by the storm.
The English victory had enormous political significance: from that moment on, the Spanish empire began to gradually decline, and England turned into a world power. In 1589, Drake, at the head of an English fleet, sailed to the Iberian Peninsula with the intention of liberating Portugal from Spanish occupation and returning the throne to King John, who had found refuge in England. Due to the lack of coordinated action between Drake and the commander of the ground forces, the enterprise ended in failure.

An attempt to capture Puerto Rico in 1595 was also unsuccessful. Instead, Drake burned the ports of Lache and Nombre de Dios (in what is now Mexico). A few days later, Drake headed to Panama, but this expedition also did not bring results.

And just at this time, Drake fell ill with a fever, which caused his death (in Portobello, near the northern end of the present Panama Canal), which followed on January 28, 1596.

Drake was the first English traveler to circumnavigate the world. He discovered Cape Horn and thereby proved that Tierra del Fuego is an island and not a peninsula of the “unknown southern land”; thereby Drake opened a more convenient route for sailors than the narrow and rocky Strait of Magellan.

In the process of creating the British maritime and colonial empire, Drake played an important role: with his victories he showed the whole world the strength and capabilities of England. Drake was one of the pioneers of privateer piracy, which expanded in the future.

Drake sought to spread the culture of some American plants, such as potatoes, to Europe; For this, a monument was erected to him in Offenburg (Baden).

The strait between Tierra del Fuego and Graham Land on Antarctica and the bay to the north west of San Francisco are named after Drake.